Kanye West Talks Suicide, Bipolar Disorder, Slavery and More on New Album ‘Ye’

As expected, the release of Kanye West's much-hyped eighth album, Ye, has come with a lot of fanfare.

For one, Kanye is, once again, disrupting the typical release format. As of this morning, the new seven-track project still isn't available on streaming services, though there are a few leaks floating around. According to The Guardian, the album is expected to arrive today (June 1) at 12 p.m. EST.

Yesterday, Kanye hosted a listening party in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which he encouraged fans to livestream via the WAV app. In true Kanye fashion, the album listening took place around a campfire, was introduced by Chris Rock and featured a host of celebrities including his wife, Kim Kardashian West, Kid Cudi, 2 Chainz, Pusha T and Ty Dolla $ign, Fabolous, DJ Clue, Theophilus London, CyHi Tha Prynce, Lil Yachty, Nas, Desiigner, Dame Dash, Big Sean, Pusha T and actor Jonah Hill. Also in attendance? Rightwing commentator, Candace Owens, who Kanye caught flak for supporting back in April.

Then, there was another album cover change to go along with the name change. Previously, the album was to feature a photo of Jan Adams, the surgeon who performed liposuction and mammoplasty on Kanye's mom, Donda West. She later died from complications from the procedure. Kim Kardashian tweeted that Kanye actually shot his new album cover on his iPhone, on the way to the listening party.

As for the project itself, as with all of the releases expected from Kanye this summer, it's seven tracks and he produced it entirely. Nicki Minaj, Dej Loaf, Willow Smith, Ty Dolla $ign, Charlie Wilson, PartyNextDoor, John Legend, and even his daughter, North West reportedly show up on the album.

He touches on pretty much everything he's been tweeting about lately, including his misinformed, flagrant comments on TMZ about slavery being a "choice," alluding that his wife told him that they were about to "lose it all" following the comments.

“I said, ‘Slavery a choice’, they say, ‘How, Ye?’ Just imagine if they caught me on a wild day,” he raps on "Butterfly Energy."

He also speaks about Russell Simmons and the #MeToo movement as well, rapping, "Russell Simmons wanna pray for me too / I’ma pray for him ’cause he got #MeToo’d / Thinkin’ what if that happened to me too" on his track, "Extacy," where he also talks explicitly about his bi-polar diagnosis.